This invention relates to an article display device useful in dispensing articles such as bottled, canned or packaged food or drink products, and more particularly to an improvement of such a display device for encouraging stock rotation. The device of the invention facilitates placement of new products to the rear of the device and is thus convenient particularly when used with those products which are time sensitive to identification changes, date coding (e.g., product expiration date) and the like.
Display shelf devices have been used in the merchandising of a number of products. These devices slidably support on their shelves articles in rows and gravity feed them one after another to the fronts of the shelves as the leading articles in each row are removed successively from the shelves. Conventional display shelf devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,239,099; 4,314,648; and 4,496,037 which are owned by the assignee of the present invention.
While such conventional shelf devices have experienced considerable success, they are not without disadvantages. To encourage stock rotation on the shelves, i.e., to prevent the same products from sitting on the shelves for a long period of time, it is desired that the shelves are back loaded upon product replenishment so that newer products are placed behind older products. This makes the older products easier to access than the newer products, which allows the products on the shelves to be purchased in the sequence of their dates of manufacture. However, because it is difficult to back load the conventional shelves, it is common that such shelves are replenished with products from their fronts. As a result, older products are pushed far back into the positions behind newer products. This leads the servicing personnel of stores into the situation in which they have to manually gather older products often to move them to the fronts of the shelves so that the older products become more accessible for customers to purchase within the recommended term for sale or use.
Similar problems exist with respect to suspension type bottle dispensing devices wherein bottles are suspended by their neck flanges. Conventional suspension type devices are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,318,485; 4,367,818; and 4,401,221 which are owned by the assignee of the present invention.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved display device which encourages stock rotation. Such a display device should facilitate at the time of product replenishment placement of newer products at the positions behind older products which have been displayed on the device.